No. 22 OU Welcomes Texas Tech to LNC Saturday

TEXAS TECH

^22/25 Oklahoma

january 14 | 2 p.m. (CT) | NORMAN, OKLA.

Notes

SATURDAY'S GAME BASICS

No. 22/25 Oklahoma (13-4, 4-1 Big 12) looks to win its 12th straight game over Texas Tech (11-5, 3-2 Big 12) as the Sooners host the Lady Raiders inside Lloyd Noble Center on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. CT. The Sooners, who are 8-1 at home this season, have won 11 straight contests against Texas Tech in Norman since 2005. The Lady Raiders enter Saturday's game after knocking off No. 18 West Virginia, 75-66, on Wednesday.

ON THE AIR

Saturday's game will be televised on Fox Sports Oklahoma with Chad McKee, Dan Hughes and Jessica Coody on the call. The contest will air on the Sooner Radio Network with Brian Brinkley calling the action.

TICKETS

Tickets are available for as low as $8 at the OU Athletics Ticket Office (800-456-4668) and online here. Lloyd Noble Center's north and east ticket windows will open at 12:30 p.m. CT on Saturday. OU students will be admitted free with a valid school I.D.

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW

• Oklahoma and Texas Tech meet for the 55th time on Saturday as the Sooners host the Lady Raiders inside Lloyd Noble Center. OU has won 11 straight meetings against the Lady Raiders and 22 out of the last 23 contests versus Texas Tech. The Sooners have also won 11 consecutive home meetings against Texas Tech dating back to 2005 (box scores/cumulative stats from last year's two meetings are on page 17 of these notes).

• OU has displayed a balanced attack since the start of Big 12 play with four players averaging between 11.2 and 14.6 points per game. Peyton Little, who scored her 1,000th career points at Oklahoma on Wednesday night, leads OU with 14.6 points a contest in league play, followed by Maddie Manning (12.4 ppg) and Vionise Pierre-Louis (12.2 ppg). Eight different players have scored 10-plus points at least once against a conference opponent this year.

• The Sooners are not short one experience this season. Entering Saturday's game, OU's roster boasts 336 career starts among 10 players who have made least one career appearance in the Sooners' starting five. Since moving freshmen Chelsea Dungee and Nancy Mulkey into the starting lineup, OU's bench is laden with experience, including Gioya Carter and Vionise Pierre-Louis who have played in 104 and 81 career games, respectively.

• Since the start of conference play, OU has seen its offensive production increase dramatically. The Sooners rank second in the Big 12 in scoring with 79.9 point per game and boasts the league's top 3-point shooting percentage at .405 (34-of-84). Gabbi Ortiz, who has scored 14.0 points over the last three games, is shooting .500 from 3-point range in the last five contests.

• The Sooners will recognize the 1999-00 Big 12 Championship team on Saturday at halftime. The squad was the first team to win a Big 12 title under Sherri Coale and started OU's streak of 17 consecuitve NCAA tournaments berths.

GAME 17 RECAP: IOWA STATE

• Vionise Pierre-Louis recorded her fifth double-double of the season, finishing with 18 points and 16 rebounds to lead No. 22/25 Oklahoma past Iowa State, 67-57, on Wednesday at Hilton Coliseum.

• Pierre-Louis' 18 points were her most against a Big 12 foe this season, while her 16 rebounds set a career high. Gioya Carter and Gabbi Ortiz added in 11 points for the Sooners, while Maddie Manning recorded 10 points and five rebounds. Manning, who was playing in front of nearly 50 family members, gave the Sooners momentum heading into the intermission as she buried back-to-back treys.

• Down two points at halftime to Iowa State , Pierre-Louis took over the game to start the third quarter by scoring eight straight points to begin the frame. The junior's 18 points were one shy of tying her season high, while Pierre-Louis added in two blocks and finished 8-of-12 from the field.

• In the fourth quarter, the Cyclones used a 6-0 run to cut the OU advantage down to 57-55 with 4:49 to go, but the Sooners forced Iowa State to miss four straight shots and picked up four turnovers to seal the win. OU's defense gave up just one Iowa State 3-pointer in the second half as the Cyclones were 1-of-11 from beyond the arc.

PREVIEWING TEXAS TECH

• Texas Tech, who upset No. 18 West Virginia Wednesday in Lubbock, enters Saturday's game with an 11-5 overall record and 3-2 mark in the league. The Lady Raiders are shooting .458 from the field (ranks third in the Big 12), .400 (first) from beyond the arc and .713 (second) at the free throw line. Texas Tech has held each of its opponents in Big 12 play to under 70 points and are third in Division I in 3-point field goal defense, limiting foes to just a .240 mark from deep.

• Sophomore guard Recee' Caldwell leads the Lady Raiders and ranks fourth in the Big 12 averaging 17.7 points per game. The UCLA transfer ranks 19th in the nation with 3.1 3-pointers per game and leads the Big 12 in minutes played at 34.3 per contest. In Big 12 play, the sophomore is averaging 18.4 points per (tied for second in the league).

• Freshman guard Arella Guirantes adds in 12.3 points and 5.2 rebounds per contest for the Lady Raiders. Junior center Jada Terry is third on the team in scoring at 11.4 points per game, and leads Texas Tech with 6.8 boards a game.

• Texas Tech head coach Candi Whitaker is 45-63 in her four seasons with the Lady Raiders. Whitaker is 122-156 as a collegiate head coach, previously serving at UMKC for four seasons before returning to her alma mater prior to the 2013-14 season. She is 0-6 against the Sooners during her tenure at Texas Tech.

Junior center Vionise Pierre-Louis has six double-digit rebound game this season.

VPL HITS HER STRIDE

• Junior center Vionise Pierre-Louis has re-emerged for the Sooners in Big 12 play as one of the league's top post players. Against conference foes, the junior is averaging 12.2 points, a team-high 8.8 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game.

• Against Iowa State Wednesday night, Pierre-Louis turned in her best performance of the season finishing with 18 points on an efficient 8-of-12 shooting, while setting a career high with 16 rebounds. She propelled the Sooners into the lead by scoring eight straight points against the Cyclones to open the third quarter.

QUICK HITS

• The Sooners are 9-0 this season and have won 30 straight games win posting a higher shooting percentage than their opponent. OU has also earned 25 consecutive victories (8-0 in 2016-17) when the Sooners win the rebounding and turnover battle against their competition.

• OU held Iowa State to a season-low 57 points on Wednesday night in Ames. The Sooners limited the Cyclones to just 1-of-11 from 3-point range in the second half and held Iowa State, the nation's second-best free throw shooting team to just 9-of-12 from the charity stripe.

• Through 17 games, the Sooners have nearly doubled their block total from this time last season. OU has logged 103 blocks (5.7 per game) this season, which ranks sixth in Division I. The Sooners finished 136th in the nation a year ago with 112 blocked shots (3.4 per game). At this point last season, OU had just 50 blocks (3.0 blocks per game). The Sooners are also just 10 blocks away from breaking into OU's top-10 list for most blocks in a single season.

• OU's 18 points, six made field goals and .857 field goal percentage in overtime against Kansas State all set Coale era records. The win marked OU's first OT victory over a top-25 opponent since defeating Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament on March 28, 2010 in the Sweet 16.

• Nancy Mulkey earned Big 12 and USBWA National Freshman of the Week Awards on Jan. 2 with 13 blocked shots in OU's first two leagues games, while averaging 11.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. In her first career start at Kansas, Mulkey nearly finished with a triple-double, picking up career highs of 14 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks against the Jayhawks. She followed her performance by recording a team-high six blocks in against TCU in 16 minutes. Mulkey finished 4-of-5 from the field and scored eight points versus the Horned Frogs

• Maddie Manning's 10 steals against Portland State on Dec. 21 rank as the most by a Division I player in a single game this season and the most by an OU player in one game since 1996.

• The Sooners have been ranked in the AP Poll for 32 consecutive weeks (tied for the 10th-longest active streak in the country). OU has been ranked in the AP poll 252 times under Sherri Coale.

UP NEXT

Oklahoma travels to No. 16/17 Texas on Tuesday night for a top-25 matchup with the Longhorns inside the Erwin Center. The teams split last year's season series with the home team winning each contest. The game will air live nationally on Fox Sports 1.

For more information on Oklahoma women's basketball, follow the Sooners on Twitter (@OU_WBBall) or like Oklahoma Sooners Women's Basketball on Facebook.